Spinning around, Cormac tried to defend helpless Helena, but both his bursts went wide and the enraged muscular giant just barged on, howling in outrage.

Suddenly Riv appeared, his assault rifle set to fully automatic. For what seemed like an eternity he filled the crazed thing with metal, and at first it seemed to barely notice. Then its full charge halted, and step for step it was forced back until it tilted over, thudding down like timber hits the forest floor.

Shaken, Helena rose to her feet.

"T-thank you", she said to Riv, her eyes showing more appreciation of him than the last time she looked at him.

Looking down on the floor they noticed a huge, muscular creature with long, straight platinum blond hair and latte colored skin. The thing had prominent cheeks, but what really caught their attention, apart from the steel pins embedded in a crown from temple to temple, was the sawed off horn on her forehead.

"Riv...", she spoke. What was once Ceres, a member of the party. "...Where... is... my... horn?"

Strangely the bullets hadn't torn through her like they should have. True, she had wounds, lethal ones, but from a deadly hail like that she should have been torn to bits now.

"My master... You... are marked. Dead."

Shadows seemed to reach everywhere, the air smelled of iron and blood. Cormac, one hand on Helenas chest, could feel her heart racing madly under her smooth skin.

Kiph listened carefully to the scratchy conversation between pilot and tower. As soon as he heard the belt unbuckle, he pushed the gray button, and waited for the hatch to open. It better open he thought angrily, he had no plan B for a metal hatch just now. But one thing was clear, the pilot was officially acting “funny”, and Kiph knew what he now had to do.

He put the bowie knife away at this point, and took out the gun Cormac had given him. He quickly made sure it was loaded, then clutched his own bloody knife in the other hand, and darted through the opening.

PoisonAlchemist: Man Muro, you boost my confidence and then you just go crush it with a heartbreaking work of staggering genius.Pariah: Don't tell him things like that, if his head gets any bigger he'll float off like a weather ballon :p

Lithe and gracious, Kiph entered the cockpit, sliding through the hatch like a desert snake through the sand.

Something had cracked the cockpit glass slightly, and in front of the pilot's chair a figure laid twisting and moaning, spasming rhythmically.

Moving in a semi-circle, The Badblood caught sight of the pilot in black he had seen from the outside. A serpentine thing, seemingly of steel, had entwined his neck and was now entering his ear. Its body was pulsating as it pushed through, black blood trickling down the captain's lobe.

Ever cautious, Kiph looked out of the cockpit. A figure in Gambit uniform was positioned on the roof just below the shuttle. His head was studded with the very same metal studs Kiph seen before, on the victims of the Hunter.

A crack pulled Kiph out of his thoughts. Looking down he noticed that steel worm had slid farther into the skull of the pilot, and a metal stud had popped out the left temple from within, cracking his skull in the process.

PoisonAlchemist: Man Muro, you boost my confidence and then you just go crush it with a heartbreaking work of staggering genius.Pariah: Don't tell him things like that, if his head gets any bigger he'll float off like a weather ballon :p

Kiph looked upon the writhing man with some pity, but not much. He was much more enamored of the metal deathworm, truth be told, then a peculiar thought dawned on him. Did they do that to *me*?

Having no answer for himself, he sprung into action, jumping into the pilot's seat, and quickly studied the gadgets. How do I go up? This cant be that hard!

Kiph started pushing buttons, pulling levers, and turning knobs. He waited for something resembling movement to begin. As he did, he grinned widely at the figure standing below.

"Go @!#$ yourself! I am the Badblood! Scourge of the Gambit! Master of the Pit! Wolf-Killer! Slayer of Spacers! Fondler of Women!" he started screaming, and to make his point, brandished the gun, waving it toward the metal-studded freak below.

"Want some? Want some?"He temporarily looked back at Arongo, to make sure he did not lose sight of the deathworm, then continued threatening the last gambit thug, while earnestly trying to get the hovercraft airborne for good.

[ooc]What do i need here, a skill and an int check? I may lack the skill, i think. To attempt to fly this thing I mean . Also, What is the skull-crunching worm doing now?[/ooc]

[ooc]Hovercraft going wild again! Everyone must make DEX rolls to stay on their feet (1d20)[/ooc]

Riv put one more bullet in each of her eyes, just to be sure, when the hovercraft began rocking wildly sideways. Helena fell into the cargo net, cursing vehemently.

They were eight meters from the open cargo door, and they could all see the heavy chain Ceres had used to tether the craft to the building. No one in the cargo room knew what was happening, but they could see the roof of the facility they had just escaped; the shuttle spun sideways wildly, and now they could see figures amassing by the stairs, ever more flowing up and out of the Bleak Wood building. It looked like some of them waited for an opening; a chance to jump aboard the rocking craft.

Cormac was troubled. Gravity caused the crates and boxes and other cargo within the nets to bulge threateningly in their direction as the d**ned shuttle careened wildly to the side, nearly tilting over. For a second he thought they were all gonna die, that the nets would unravel and their bodies be crushed under tons of goods. Then the moment passed, only to be replaced by the feeling the craft would drop sideways into the streets, leaving those who survived at the mercy of these horrid creatures.

Helena aimed for the heavy chain and pushed the trigger, but she was thrown into a crate just as she did so, and the shot went off into the wooden container.

***************************

Kiph cackled and screamed within the cockpit, madly pushing buttons and moving the stick that came out of the floor. The craft responded violently, jerking this way and that. When it moved forcefully sideways, gracing that bastard on the roof, he howled gleefully.

Kiph tried to keep an eye on the pilot on the floor, and the thing that was cracking its way into his skull. Then the shuttle stood nearly ninety degrees on the side, making Kiph cling on to the chair with his feet. There was a thud, and when the craft settled down, the thing seemed to slide down the hatch. He heard it hit the floor of the corridor below; a limp, muted sound, as if a sack of potatoes had just been dropped down there.

He could not see the steel worm any longer.

[ooc]Kiph: You need a "Pilot Hovercraft" skill roll. Your skill is 00, which means a 01-05 is a success. Do not despair, however, because you might get airborne with a fail. It just means that your piloting is... less impressive. The poorer the d100 dice roll, the more catastrophic the flying attempt

Riv & Cormac: It is clear to you that without unfastening the heavy chain in some way, the craft will never get airborne. Obviously the craft moves wildly, but those of you who makes their DEX rolls may move towards the ramp. It is only eight meters away...

Those of you who fail your DEX roll may attempt to dislodge it from where you stand, using nades, guns, whatever. That might also damage the ship. Also: Throwing and shooting from the rocking shuttle incurs a -30 penalty, and no aiming devices can be used. As the heavy chain is a difficult target to hit, you must also detract another 20, for a total of -50 to your skill check.[/ooc]

Cormac didn't even try to stay stood up. He let the rocking shuttle throw him to the floor and sat down. Knowing that sitting down was the most stable firing positing after laying prone, He aimed for the chain, and fired in short burst until the magazine went empty.

PoisonAlchemist: Man Muro, you boost my confidence and then you just go crush it with a heartbreaking work of staggering genius.Pariah: Don't tell him things like that, if his head gets any bigger he'll float off like a weather ballon :p

Cormac, his back against a steel crate, fired burst after burst, the bullets strafing the chain, he even saw one of the thugs outside collapse and fall.

Riv, putting his arms through the masks of the cargo net, calmly aimed at the chain and squeezed the trigger. As he did so the chain broke with a thwang, small pieces flying everywhere, and the hovercraft sped into the air. Helena tumbled down the passageway and did not stop before she hit the cargo ramp, now halfway closed. Meanwhile Cormac, sitting with his back to the steel crate, began sliding sideways after Helena, but he managed to grab hold before he got far. Riv had already entwined his arms, so he merely felt his legs begin to fly as the shuttle rocketed upwards into the sky.

**********************************

Kiph noticed that the big stick between his legs seemed to dictate which way the ship went. Seconds passed, and he heard a lot of gunfire from somewhere far away. He had his right hand on the stick while the left hammered away at buttons on the console.

It must have paid off, because suddenly the craft shot into the air and Kiph felt his body being pushed into the pilot chair, his head g-forced into the neck support.

Riv, calmly cleaning his gun, had noticed that the Ceres-thing's eyes were growing back. The holes in her body were growing as well, so he unceremoniously dragged her to the cargo ramp, opened it half way open and dumped her out. He could have sworn that she whispered as he did so: "I want my HORN back!"

***********************

Meanwhile Cormac was comforting Helena in the commander's bedroom. They had encountered the pilot on their way back there, he had turned into one of those things and Helena had pumped him full of 5.56 mm ammunition, from head to toe. That had brought Kiph out of the cockpit, shouting and screaming that he had done it, that he could fly. Problem was that the hovercraft tilted partially sideways, so the floor was sloping badly and they had to support against the wall to walk properly.

No problem now, Cormac thought. His bare feet rested against the wall as he thrust into Helena, her nails digging into his back.

***********************

Sometime later a voice came from the dashboard of the cockpit. A cold, female voice. "Auto pilot engaged. Setting course for Rouge Tower". Kiph didn't know what an auto pilot was, or where this Rouge Tower was, but he lost control over the shuttle. Just as well, he thought, for there was a crack in the cockpit glass and the wind was biting cold at this altitude.